This is Author Donna Fletcher Crow’s maiden voyage into Blogging! So give her a warm welcome. Here’s Donna on Strong Women:

“I love the title of this blog because Strong Women are so important for life and for stories. I believe women have always had to be strong for civilization to survive, but I have been in this business long enough (30 years) to remember when strength was not the primary characteristic portrayed by fictional women. Heroines were supposed to be sweet and let the hero rescue them. They were also a lot younger than today’s more mature heroines. In the early 80’s a nineteen-year-old heroine was quite acceptable for an adult romance, although even then I found them hard to identify with.

Strong women are not only more true to life and more interesting to read about they are also far easier to write about. I made that mistake initially when writing A VERY PRIVATE GRAVE, book one in my Monastery Murders series. Felicity Howard, my American heroine, is studying at a theological college run by monks in a monastery in Yorkshire when her favorite monk is murdered. Because much of the story (minus the murder) is modeled on my own daughter’s experience I started out with a sweet, agreeable Felicity. It didn’t take me long to realize this wasn’t working.

Felicity is now rash, headstrong and stubborn. (And, yes, those qualities can be attributed to my daughter, too.) Felicity’s rashness gets her into many exciting and even dangerous scrapes running across northern England and Scotland chasing and being chased by murderers. Only a strong woman could survive those escapades with humor and grace.

But perhaps most important is the fact that Felicity’s best characteristics are also her worst characteristics and that gives my character lots of room to grow.

Donna Fletcher Crow is the author of 35 books, mostly novels of the history of British Christianity, springing from her lifelong ardent Anglophilia. She and her husband live in Boise, Idaho. They have 4 adult children and 10 young grandchildren. Their daughter is married to a Church of England priest who serves as research assistant for The Monastery Murders.

Praise for A Very Private Grave:“History and mystery and murders most foul keep the pages turning. . . A fascinating read.”–Liz Curtis Higgs, bestelling author of Thorn in My Heart

I’m so happy that Donna chose my blog for her debut in blogging. If you want to hear something sweet to the ear, drop by her delightful website and listen to the Gregorian chant. Lovely. Thanks so much, Donna. Hope you sell GAZILLIONS!”–Lyn

About Lyn Cote

Lyn Cote welcomes other authors to her "Strong Women, Brave Stories" blog to share stories of women who triumph over the challenges common to all women.

This was a delightful experience, Lyn. Thank you somuch for hosting me. Several people told me they read it but didn't leave a comment, so i hope my contribution helped introduce lots of people to to your great blog.

Sandy and J, thank you so much for dropping by and for commenting! You make a great point, J, that in the course of being strong, it's also very important not to lose our femininity. Society *really* would be lost if women lost their nurturing natures.

Donna, I found your blog post through Twitter! Congrats at joining the blogging community.

Strong women are essential to literature today, especially in YA lit, which is what I write. However, it's those strong women who also have to show the reality of womanhood, that we are emotional creatures, that we do love passionately and make horrible mistakes, but that through those struggles, we learn and find strength. Your series sounds fantastic, and I can't wait to dig in.

Donna, your series sounds delightful – and so does your daughter. I saw your blurb about this on Dorothy L (I'm mostly a lurker) and wanted to check it out. I agree with you about strong women and applaud your speaking out in their favor. I'll look for your books.

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